NC novelist seeks new trial in wife's 2001 death

DURHAM, N.C. – As North Carolina novelist Michael Peterson seeks a new trial in the 2001 death of his wife, two state investigators are raising questions about whether a former colleague involved in Peterson's trial fabricated results in another case.

A key witness at Peterson's 2003 trial was Duane Deaver, a State Bureau of Investigations blood spatter analyst fired earlier this year.

At a hearing Friday on Peterson's request, two SBI agents testified they retested evidence from a 1993 murder trial and got results that raise serious questions about whether Deaver fabricated results that helped put an innocent man in prison for 17 years. That defendant won his release in 2010.

Michael Peterson has denied any role in his wife's death, saying he found her in a pool of blood at the bottom of a staircase after an apparent fall. The hearing resumes Tuesday.

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